APPLETON - While the last notes played by the "School of Rock" kids might have just stopped reverberating inside Thrivent Financial Hall, it's only a matter of days until the next rock musical rolls into the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center.

The 20th anniversary tour of "Rent" — the powerful, sometimes controversial Tony Award-winning musical that first shook audiences in the mid-'90s — begins its three-day, five-show run Friday night in downtown Appleton.

Though "Rent" productions previously stopped at the Fox Cities PAC in 2006 and 2009, this is the first visit from the revival that took off in late 2016.

What it is

The musical, which follows a diverse group of seven New York City artists and their daily struggles as members of various marginalized communities, first made waves in 1996. It's loosely based on Giacomo Puccini's opera "La Boheme," which premiered 100 years before the opening of "Rent."

This century-later remix includes a handful of characters that are HIV-positive. Several of them are gay or bisexual, one's getting over the suicide of a loved one and many are trying to fight their way out of poverty. That's heavy stuff, yet there's much more to it than just black clouds. As the New York Times wrote back in '96, "this vigorous tale of a marginal band of artists in Manhattan's East Village ... rushes forward on an electric current of emotion that is anything but morbid."

The musical is the creation of the New York-native composer and playwright Jonathan Larson, who wrote the book, music and lyrics. Larson died unexpectedly of an aortic aneurysm at the age of 35 the night before the show's first off-Broadway performance. He never got to see the success of "Rent," which earned him three posthumous Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, among other honors.

A feature film version of "Rent" was released in 2005 and featured several members of the original Broadway cast. The production ran on Broadway from 1996 to 2008 for more than 5,000 performances — making it the 11th longest-running show in history.

Because it deals with adult themes, it's not recommended for children younger than 13.

Back for more

The 20th anniversary revival launched, as you might have guessed, in 2016. It's directed by Evan Ensign based on the original work by Michael Greif, and the original choreographer, costume designer and music supervisor jumped back in.

The revival tour that began in September 2016 finishes up its run in Rochester, New York Sunday, then heads to Owensboro, Kentucky before opening in Appleton on May 11. In a review of a Rochester performance, Marcia Morphy wrote for the Democrat & Chronicle that the show's rebirth is long overdue.

"Much of 'Rent's' timeless appeal comes from its relatively harsh, unapologetic views of reality," she wrote. "And while it’s easy to get swept up in the joy and rowdiness of its rich musical landscape, deep down it’s about living life each day as if it were your last."

Where we're at

This is the final offering from the 2017-18 Kimberly-Clark Broadway Across America-Fox Cities Series. The new Broadway season will launch in late October with "Something Rotten!" Other Broadway shows on the schedule include "Fiddler on the Roof," "Anastasia," "The Lion King," "Come From Away" and "The Play That Goes Wrong."